Our mission on Beneforce is to demystify the many modalities of holistic
and alternative medicine. Many see the conventional medicine currently
practiced in hospitals and medical centers as "scientific" and regard
the many modalities of alternative health as "non-scientific"
and based on
folklore and superstition. Some recognize that spiritual healing plays a
role but do not include that aspect in the healing of physical symptoms
despite growing awareness that attitude and belief play a strong part
in the healing process.

The fundamental difference between pharmaceutical medicine and most
alternative remedies is in the extraction and manufacturing process.
For example: Pharmaceutical preparations like aspirin contains synthesized
acetylsalicylic acid, better known as salicylic
acid (and possibly some other medically inert substances to bind a
tablet together) while the herbal equivalent, Willow Bark, contains
natural glycosides that is hydrolyzed to salicylic acid by the body.
Both will relieve pain.

Just about anything that is made in the laboratory today is also
manufactured by a plant somewhere on the planet. In fact, much of the
"new discoveries" by pharmaceutical scientists are achieved by copying
plants or herbs that have been around for millennia and have been used
as medicinal herbs for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Most understand that "holistic" refers to the treatment of the whole
person (body, mind and spirit) but few realize that holistic also applies to the medication in many instances. An extract,
infusion or powder made from willow bark contains most or all of the constituents
(or ingredients) of willow bark, not just the glycosides that hydrolyse
to salicylic acid. The
effects of these other constituents must be considered during
diagnoses and prescription because the herbal remedy has not been
stripped of the other constituents.

If you browse our pages or read a book on one of the alternative health
modalities one of the first things that you will notice is that there
seems to be a vast number of remedies that all claim to do the same
thing, or treat the same condition. That is true. It is then also easy
to be skeptical and feel that it is a bit like snake oil or to believe
that it does not matter which remedy is taken. That is not true.

In our Willow Bark example above - it is not the only plant that
contains salicylic acid esters or glycosides (in fact Meadowsweet was
the preferred source before synthesizing and also the origin of the name
aspirin - "a" from acetylsalicylic acid, and the rest from spiraea
ulmara, Meadowsweet's botanical name).

There are many plants that contains salicylic acid and each also
contains uniquely different other constituents. The skill of the
herbalist is in choosing which one to use. For headaches, willow bark is
possibly the better choice, but if the headache is a symptom of another
condition it may be better to choose a herb that addresses the other
condition but also contains salicylic acid for the pain.

The whole effect of the remedy must be matched to the whole symptom
profile of the patient to be fully effective.

On these pages we try to provide the information needed to form an
understanding of many of the modalities and the individual remedies,
cross referenced to effect, symptom or condition and constituent to
facilitate the process of finding the better solution from the wide
choice available. Doing this in an unstructured way becomes confusing
and is inefficient so for each modality we cover, so we provide a number of
pages that instruct on how to apply the information. At present this is
done for
Homeopathy and we are working on the rest (it is a vast field that
will always be a work in progress), in the meantime we
have provided a Navigation Map (not the
site map) for all the other remedies.

For those that wish to address a particular symptom, condition and
disease, it should be sufficient to start at Symptoms which is listed in
alphabetical order, clicking on one to get to the page and from there to
browse the individual remedy pages of the modality of choice to find the
most appropriate remedy.

We can only include on these pages the information that we have found with
extensive research but we cannot guarantee that the information
presented is complete or even accurate, we are constantly adding more.

* Statements made
have not been evaluated by American Food and Drug Authority or similar board
or authority of any other country.
The content of
this website, products offered on the website and any correspondence that we
may enter into with you have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug
Authority. The information and products offered on this website and any
website or publication that we may refer to or link to are not intended to
diagnose, treat, cure, prevent or in any way improve or ease any conditions,
disease or symptoms. The content of the website, products and documentation
provided is for your entertainment and enlightenment only. None of the
content of this website, packaging and documentation provided with products
offered on this website or any correspondence entered into is intended or
should be construed as a substitute or augmentation of advice from your
physician or medical practitioner. You should not use any information
provided by us in any form to diagnose or treat any condition or disease.
You must consult your healthcare practitioner or doctor before commencing
any dietary change, taking or ceasing to take any medication, starting or
stopping a treatment of any suspected or diagnosed medical condition or self
improvement plan.